Haha, I had this recipe in my cupboard but tweeked it a little. I make it every year during the holidays and everyone scrambles for more - in fact my mother-in-law hides them from the kids so she can finish them herself!! What I tweeked was using almond slivers instead of whole almonds and added a light eggwash glaze before putting the almond on top. Gives a great golden colour, or I suppose you could use food colouring. Cutting in the butter (I use half butter, half butter flavoured Crisco) is a must! It keeps the center moist. I make my cookies a little bigger, so they cook for 20mins on 325*F. I also upped the sugar by 1/4c. and doubled the almond extract (trippling it gives a rich almond flavour). They come out looking a bit undone, but prick them with a toothpick and you'll see that they're well done :) Even without the eggwash, they're darn good!!

I also used half butter and half (butter-flavored) Crisco. Fabulous results, but I must mention I made half shaped as balls, and put half through my cookie press. I strongly preferred the latter. The presentation was nice, but the crunch of the little ones was awesome! For those, I used an interesting disk shape, and arranged almond slices on top to go along with the design. Beautiful! I'll go heavier on the extract next time.

I was looking for the chinese almond cookie recipe for my 11 yr old daughter(she loves those cookies). I followed the recipe per the directions, even using the lard. I was very skeptical about these, but alas, I really enjoyed them. And my children, especially the 11 yr old, loved them (as well as my 5 yr old nephew, who kept asking, "Auntie can I get another cookie", Over and Over again. I had some pop up guest and they really enjoyed these cookies. One even took some home. I will try the butter/shortening combo to see if it will also be a hit. Thanks, for the recipe.

these were so easy and they tasted great. I rolled the dough into a log and chilled it. Then I used my Pampered Chef crinkle cutter to cut them into about 1/4" slices. Placed a couple almond slices on each one and baked them. My mother-in-law asked me where I bought them. :-) how cool is that!

I've made these a number of times and they are absolutly wonderful. I always up the extract by at least 3 fold. For those that have crumbly dough, maybe try using a larger egg (like jumbo). It could add just enough moisture to help keep it together.

great recipe, the cookies taste exactly like those i bought in chinese bakery, and easy to make too. i did increase the amount of almond extract to 3 tsp though.

I ate these cookies all the time while growing up in BKLYN. This recipe is very close to bakery perfection. I did make some adjustments though - I added the chopped walnuts to the flour mixture and added an 1/8 of teaspoon of pure almond extract along with the vanilla and Boy oh Boy were they the BOMB!!! Thanks

These are excellent and easy! I used butter instead of lard. Many thanks Rosina!

I made these cookies for a potluck, and they were a major hit! People were raving about my cookies for weeks, I couldn't believe it! I reduced the amount of sugar when I made them, and used butter instead of lard. They still tasted fantastic, as my colleagues attested! When I made my first batch, some of my cookies had slightly burnt bottoms. I had to keep a careful eye out when I made the rest of my batches. All in all, though, I will definitely make these again in the future.

These cookies are so good, you can't stop eating them! I didn't have lard. We used half butter and half Crisco. They were still awesome!